


And Then There were Three

by isuilde



Category: Free!
Genre: Angst, Hunger Games AU, I'm not even sure about the trigger warning, I'm really really sorry, M/M, but if you're easily triggered please proceed with caution, discussions of killing and be killed, it's nothing graphic, iwatobi white day, slight suggestion of drowning, suggestion of suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-03
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-18 00:11:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1407766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isuilde/pseuds/isuilde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d counted—he’d counted each and every single sound of cannon, and with it crossing the list of the Tributes in his mind one by one, and just now—</p><p>Makoto breaks the silence with a terse, “Did it just—twice?”</p><p>-----</p><p> </p><p>Ladies and Gentleman, the 70th Hunger Games.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Then There were Three

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gliss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gliss/gifts).



> Written for [Iwatobi White Day 2014](http://iwatobiwhiteday.dreamwidth.org/). Sospi likes AU and tragic things. I racked my brains to come up with any tragic, fitting AU for MakoRin, and came up with this. I'm only slightly sorry, I think. Happy White Day, Sospi! <3
> 
> For convenience's reasons, let's pretend that the tributes get a few months where they train together before the Games begin so they get to know each other even better aheheheh.

Makoto looks dead.

Rin doesn’t say anything. He wants to reach out, wants take Makoto’s face into his hands and pepper hard kisses onto the skin streaked with with brown and black—soil and ashes and that tiny dry leaf stubbornly clinging just under his jaw. Sometimes he finds it hard to believe that he could fall so hard and fast for someone he only knows for a few months, but it’s _Makoto_ , and as Haruka had told him back when they were in that training room, comparing muscles and discussing the best weapons: _If you don’t at least crush on Makoto a little, you might not be human._  

Such exaggeration coming from Haruka is sort of ridiculous. Rin barks a small laugh that sounds like a cough. Gou turns a questioning gaze on him, and Rin notices the way her cheeks are sunk, the way her eyes are red-rimmed and puffy, and once again he remembers why he’s still here. 

They’ve agreed. Haruka didn’t even flinch when the flood of water hits and his grip slips, didn’t even look scared when the water carries him away, just stared right back at Makoto and Rin and Gou, who could do jack-shit except scream and cry. 

Gou hadn’t stopped crying until this morning. Makoto was the first time to stop crying, exactly right after the cannon goes off fifteen minutes after they last saw Haruka taken by the water. 

Haruka was gone. Just like that. And Rin, with tears still streaking down his face, watched Makoto’s face slowly shut down, watched his eyes turn blank, and realized that something inside Makoto had just gone up and left together with Haruka. 

It’s frightening. Even more frightening because Rin feels almost the same, except he still has Gou, and he still has a reason to move forward. 

They’ve just only reached a cave near the lake when the cannon goes off again. Twice. 

Rin stops dead in his track, for a second unable to comprehend the sound, because other than the three of them there should still be Nagisa and Rei left, and they’d promised to meet up at the main boulevard, just another three hours walking to the east from where they are right now. He’d counted—he’d counted each and every single sound of cannon, and with it crossing the list of the Tributes in his mind one by one, and just now— 

Makoto breaks the silence with a terse, “Did it just—twice?”

Gou covers her mouth with one hand, tears already welling up. “Oh my god,” she whispers, her voice this close to hysteria. “Oh my god.” 

“Get in the cave, Gou,” Rin hisses, one hand pushing Gou forward and forces her to stumble down inside. He turns to Makoto, for once looking up at him defiantly, because it’s just the three of them left, and Rin isn’t going to give away Gou’s chance of living, not even to the person he’d fallen in love with. 

Makoto stares back at him blankly. 

“So,” Rin says, throat thick. “What are you going to do?” 

Makoto keeps their eyes locked for several moments, quiet and painful, and Rin knows acutely that Makoto realizes it, too—if they stayed here, the three of them, they’d be killed. Now that it’s come down to this, those bastards out there are probably watching gleefully, excited at the prospect of how these three Tributes are going to decide who gets to get out, who gets to live. Excited to see what kind of drama would unveil, and Rin feels sick when he imagines the bets going around all over the country, people putting his money to see him dead, or Gou dead, or Makoto dead— 

“Can I,” Makoto says, and Rin snaps to attention. “Tell you something?” 

He shifts on his feet, one hand ready to snatch the blade hanging on his hip. He loves Makoto, god, he loves Makoto so much, and it’s unfair that Makoto’s probably never going to know it, it’s unfair that he’s going to have to kill Makoto in order to get his sister out. “What.” 

Makoto smiles, and Rin sees a flicker of the old Makoto—kind and happy and careful—back. His knees nearly buckle; he’s missed this Makoto. 

“I wasn’t going to,” Makoto tells him, and Rin watches as the taller man pulls out his daggers. “But Haru made me promise. You should tell Rin, he said. At least make something good out of this wretched place, Makoto. That’s what he said.” 

“What are you on about—“Rin falters when Makoto drops his daggers onto the ground. “What—“ 

“You’re going to have to kill me,” Makoto tells him, quiet and calm, and Rin stares at him in horror. It’s different, Rin realizes, having to kill Makoto because Makoto attacks him, and having to kill Makoto because he asks Rin to. “Gou-chan’s the one who’s going to win. We agreed on that.” 

“Haruka and I agreed on that,” Rin retorts harshly, voice shaking. “You’re not obliged to—you don’t have to—“ 

“Haruka’s decision is mine, too,” Makoto smiles. “I want to make this right for you, Rin.” 

“Fuck you,” Rin curses, eyes wide as he watches Makoto pulls his gun out of his bag. “Why don’t you kill me first, then? Why do I have to kill you first, I—“ 

“Because you’ll have to see it to yourself that Gou is the last one left.” Makoto steps forward, his gun in hand, stretched out for Rin to take. “You’re her brother. If I killed you here, I’d have the chance to win. I could just kill her and win. But you won’t.” 

“You won’t.” Rin barks out a laugh, bitter and resentful, not that he realizes that yes, even if Makoto killed him first, Makoto would still let Gou win. The fear and shock at the last two cannon shots had made him foolish. It’s ridiculous, to think that Makoto would attack him or Gou in order to live on. “You’re—fuck, you won’t. I trust you enough for that, Makoto.” 

Something in Makoto’s eyes crumbles. “Please don’t,” he whispers, and Rin notices that his knuckles had gone white around the gun. “Please, Rin. You have to kill me first. You can’t trust me like that, not for this.” 

“Haru would’ve trusted you.” Rin shoots back, and that’s cruel, he knows that when Makoto’s face turns wrecked for a moment. “I trust you, too. More than anything now, Makoto. You’re going to have to kill me first. Gou would be angry. She wouldn’t have any qualms finishing you off. You know she wouldn’t.” 

“I can’t—“ Makoto breathes, harsh, and he’s shaking so hard, it’s a wonder he doesn’t fall to his knees. “I can’t kill you, Rin, I can’t. I can’t.” 

“Sure you can.” Rin steps forward, snatching Makoto’s other hand and forces him to handle his blade. “Come on, Makoto. It’s easy. You just—you can either use your gun or just run this thing through my chest. It’ll be fast. It’ll be over before you realized it—“ 

Makoto physically recoils from him. “No--!” 

Rin tightens his grip, keeping the two of them close. “You can. You can do it, you can kill me—you’ve done it before, you killed that Kaede guy for us. It’s the same, Makoto—“ 

“I don’t want to kill the person I love!” Makoto cries, and Rin freezes. 

Everything is quiet, everything is silent. Somewhere far away the thrushes sing, the sounds haunting like a funeral song. 

“….what…?” Rin breathes weakly. 

Makoto’s head is down, his breath coming in fast gasps, and Rin realizes he’s crying. He’s crying. Rin had made him cry. But Makoto said—Makoto said— 

“I love you,” Makoto repeats, voice completely wrecked that Rin could barely make out what he’s saying. “I’ve been in love with you. For months, I—Haru made me promise to tell you. I never had the courage—but I don’t want to kill you. I don’t want to go without you knowing either.” 

“Makoto—“ 

“I’m sorry,” Makoto whispers, quiet, and something in Rin breaks. 

He lets his blade fall, twists Makoto forward and leans up, crushing their lips together even before Makoto had the time to protest. The gun drops with a dull thud, Makoto’s whole body freezing in Rin’s hold for a second, before he reacts, before he pushes against Rin with the same desperation, before the kiss turns into a filthy one, all teeth and bites and tongues, and Rin finds himself wishing he could take Makoto deeper, deeper, so he could forget that they need to kill each other, they need to— 

“Rin,” Makoto gasps against his lips. There’s a growl that Rin belatedly realizes coming from him, but it’s lost into Makoto’s mouth, swallowed forever with a groan, and Rin foolishly, childishly, thinks, _there’s something of me inside of you._  

“Fuck you,” Rin tells him, even as Makoto’s hands find his head and hold it in place, fingers sliding into Rin’s hair. “Should’ve told me when it mattered, fuck you—should’ve told me when we had time—“ 

“I’m sorry,” Makoto breathes. Rin swallows that, too. “I’m sorry.” And he kisses Rin again, and again, and Rin hasn’t the slightest idea how long they stand like that, just kissing each other so desperately and refusing to let go of each other. He thinks he hears something inside the cave, thinks maybe Gou slips out and right back into the cave again at the sight of his brother kissing Makoto. 

That’s just as well. He doesn’t want Gou to see what’s going to happen. 

“I’ll kill you,” Rin whispers against Makoto’s jaw. “You’ll kill me too, how about that? We can die, together, like this, and Gou would win. Gou would live.” 

“Don’t let her see,” Makoto murmurs into his hair, and Rin nods. 

“Yeah. Don’t let her see.” 

Rin lets go of Makoto and bends down, picking up two daggers off the ground. He gives one of them to Makoto, curls his fingers around the hilt so tight he could feel his nails biting into his skin. Makoto has the tip of the dagger against his chest now, right where his heart beats, and Rin swallows, settles the tip of his dagger right where Makoto’s heart is, too. 

“One push,” he tells Makoto. “One push, and it’s over.” 

Makoto’s eyes never leave him. “On three.” 

“On three.” Rin agrees. Makoto’s other hand finds his, holding it tight, like a promise that they’d find each other, after this. A promise that they’d make something good out of this, like Haruka had wanted. 

Neither of them closes their eyes. “One,” Rin says. 

“Two,” Makoto murmurs. 

Rin takes a breath, opens his mouth, and— 

“I’ll pull the trigger.” Gou’s voice comes, calm and firm, and both Makoto and Rin stiffen before turning towards the cave entrance. 

Gou stands, straight and tall, a gun pressed against the side of her head, defiant eyes staring straight at the older boys, and Rin is so shocked that he nearly drops his dagger. 

“Gou!” He barks. “Get that thing away, now!” 

“No.” Gou steps back. “Get away from each other, get away from those—those weapons, and I’ll put this away.” 

“Gou-chan—“ Makoto begins, about to step forward, but freezes when Gou presses the gun harder against her head. “No, Gou-chan, listen, we’re going to get you out, okay, you’ll win, and—“ 

“I’m not watching you both killing each other just so I could win!” she shrills, but there’s no trace of the hysterical tone that had underlined her voice just before she went into the cave. “I’ve had enough, I’m not losing my brother, and I refuse to lose you as well, Makoto-senpai! If you used that dagger—one or the both of you, I’m going to pull the trigger.” 

Rin’s blood runs cold. “Don’t joke about it, Gou.” 

“I’m not.” She stares up at Rin, eyes fierce. “I’ll pull the trigger. See if I won’t.” 

“If you pull the trigger,” Rin says slowly. “Makoto and I would push the daggers. One push. We can do it faster than you.” 

“If you want me to die, Oniichan, sure. Shove that dagger into Makoto-senpai’s chest. We’ll see if which death is faster, by bullets to the head or dagger to the chest.” 

A terse silence fall over the three of them; each so close to their own death, staring at each other, not blinking, not stepping back. 

And then. 

And then that voice echoes over the arena, booming loud and panic. “STOP!” 

None of them move. Rin stops breathing for a second. 

“Stop! Stop, uhhh—well, it seems we’ve got our winners!” The voice announces, and Rin sees Gou’s eyes widen, feels Makoto’s hand in his tighten. “Ladies and Gentlemen, your applause, please, for the three winners of the 70th Hunger Games!” 

The dagger falls loose from Rin’s slack fingers, and Makoto drops his own, his hand gripping Rin’s own so tight it hurts. “What—what happened—“ 

“We won,” Rin whispers in disbelief, because he’s alive, Makoto is alive, _Gou_ is alive. “We won, Makoto, we won—“ 

Gou makes a wrecked noise, throws away the gun, and leaps at the two of them, gathering them into her arms, trapping them into a crushing hug. 

Amidst Gou’s cries and the feel of Makoto’s lips kissing whatever part of Rin’s face he could find, Rin closes his eyes and lets himself fall to the ground.

**\-----o0o-----**


End file.
